Aw ****s and Bravo Zulus

Jumping in with my dad's aw ****s.

1) Hard wheels up in an A-3 at Whidbey. Tower had visual and didn't
question the missing landing light. This was a touch-and-go and crew was
lucky to walk away without broken backs. I posted the pic on the
Skywarrior website.


2) A-3 Cockpit flooded with av fuel in flight - hundreds of gallons. Crew
was almost overwhelmed and blinded by fumes. afraid to bail out due to the
chutes being soaked with fuel, afraid to key a mic and go down in flames.


Somebody jump in with some details on a stunt that caused a few aw ****s.
I recall my father describing that in order to really have a **** hot
take-off, it was possible in an F-8 or F-4 to select gear up on the take-off
roll. A weight-on-wheels sensor would prevent the retraction until
airborne. One or more planes were turned into sleds when a change in grade
took the weight off the wheels prior to rotation.

Any details on this?